MODERNISM TO POSTMODERNISM We started this class with a discussion of Modernism. Modernism was a particular direction in thought, growing out of the Industrial Revolution. Believing in progress and human potential, Modernism in art rejected traditional forms of art and developed new ways of seeing and depicting the world. An important part of this involved focus on the materials of art, like paint and light and color and movement, as opposed to grand narratives (or stories like those of religion, mythology, history, etc.). The artists also tended to organize in groups so we have the isms. Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, etc. In some ways one might argue that Dada was the beginning of Postmodern ideas. Can you think of why? But it s usually lumped in with Modernism. Abstract Expressionism was a Modernist movement. The ideas and artwork continued Modernist ones. However, we begin to see the shift with Rauschenberg and Johns who began to bring real life back into art, including subject matter. This of course continues with Pop. I know this is a lot to read. Hope you do it anyway. J 1
THE POSTMODERN CONDITION It became apparent to many that the worldview fostered through Modernism (and by the Western humanist tradition) was flawed, corrupt, and oppressive. Events since World War Two (like the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War and Feminism), and the perception of those events, gave rise to the notion that Modernism has played itself out and is now floundering and directionless. If Modernism was at an end, we are now facing a new period. The name given this new period is Postmodernism. The seemingly anti-modern stance involves a basic rejection of the tenets of Modernism; that is to say, a rejection of the doctrine of the supremacy of reason, the notion of truth, the belief in the perfectability of man, and the idea that we could create a better, if not perfect, society. This view has been termed deconstructive postmodernism. 2
Philip Guston You may have noticed we have not looked at much painting in this class since Abstract Expressionism. As other ideas came to the forefront in art, painting was seen as antiquated and associated with either tradition or selfexpression. However, there were artists who continued to paint. New Imagist Painting and Sculpture---was the name of a show that opened at the Whitney Museum in New York Dec. 1978. This show focused attention on new aspects of painting that had been evolving over the decade...the curator identified 10 painters who used recognizable images in their work but whose execution was principally in dialog with abstraction, not traditional figurative painting...these artists, as well as others in the 70 s and 80 s were working with multiple, interacting but independent layers of discourse simultaneously in their work. 3
One compact definition is that postmodernism rejects modernism's grand narratives of artistic direction, eradicating the boundaries between high and low forms of art, and disrupting genre's conventions with collision, collage, and fragmentation. Postmodern art holds that all stances are unstable and insincere, and therefore irony, parody, and humor are the only positions that cannot be overturned by critique or revision. "Pluralism and diversity" are other defining features. Questions of identity and embracing all forms as equally valid. While these artists were bringing recognizable subject matter into their work, Irony, Parody, Humor, Pluralism, Diversity, dissolving boundaries between High and Low Art, etc. are all evident. 4
THE RETURN TO PAINTING-- Philip Guston Stated that each artist is himself. His work was based on ideas being developed at the time --Dissolving distinctions between High and Low art (his work has a cartoon aesthetic) --bringing back recognizable subject matter --making social and psychological statements about the human species, including artists 5
Philip Guston Began working with Abstract Expressionism but develop a more individual style using a cartoon aesthetic. Themes based on his self-examinations. 6
This period in art was highly affected by influential writers (review from last week): Jean Francois Lyotard- The Postmodern Condition, 1970 the grand narratives that had informed Western Civilization since the Enlightenment were no longer credible. Michel Foucault-began with history then moved on to explore various aspects of culture which had become naturalized (thought to be normal and natural aspects of human nature), and exposed them as all being determined by human ideas rather than having any essential aspects. Within this exploration, he showed the relationship between structures of power and cultural ideology 7
Fredric Jameson Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, 1984 cultures destiny was inextricably bound to capitalism s. He asserted that aesthetic and commodity production had become indistinguishable. Technologies of reproduction (TV) had replace technologies of production. Art increasingly sponsored by commercial companies interdependence between art and advertising. The main thrust of this analysis was an account of the mind-set underlying the cultural products of postmodernism an emotional numbing or waning of affect characterized postmodern subjectivity. In art, painting responded to postmodern ideas. 8
http://www.pacegallery.com/ artists/80/chuck-close Note scale. CHUCK CLOSE---Spent months painting something that looked like a snapshot--decided not to make art dependent on his own self-discovery but rather the pre-established facts of the photograph. The large scale impacts the viewer differently depending on the viewing position. Far away they appear super realistic. Up close, you can see too much of the detail. More than the eye could see. 9
Chuck Close (at the Met) renowned for his highly inventive techniques of painting the human face, and is best known for his large-scale, photo-based portrait paintings. As he continued through his career, paintings became more and more abstract. Using a grid to transfer photographs to paintings, each square was always viewed as an abstract image. 10
In 1988, Close was paralyzed following a rare spinal artery collapse; he continues to paint using a brush-holding device strapped to his wrist and forearm. His practice extends beyond painting to encompass printmaking, photography, and, most recently, tapestries based on Polaroids. 11
Anslem Kiefer Images like this one below are based on photos from concentration camps. Anslem Kiefer a German artist working in a German Romantic tradition conveys a presence in his materials, lead, straw, dense pigment...linked to nature and mystery. Kiefer looks for parallels in mythology,--nordic, Greek, Egyptian, Early Christian and Jewish. His preoccupation with death, destruction and renewal is classically romantic. 12
His massive works present encrusted paint, straw, tar, dirt and even clothes to impact the viewer with a visceral reminder of the human condition. ANSELM KIEFER, Nigredo, 1984. Oil paint on photosensitized fabric, acrylic emulsion, straw, shellac, relief paint on paper pulled from painted wood, 11 x 18. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia (gift of Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art). 13
Says he thinks about Religion a lot because Science provides no answers...painting offers redemption from the horrors of a dark history and from his own unconscious. Scorched landscapes refer to burnt black battlefields as well as death and destruction. 14
This large scale piece is in the Met. NYC. If you see it in person the surface is crusty, layered, dense. While the reference to Pollock s paintings is clear, these works have recognizable subject and a feeling of something destroyed. 15
Francesco Clemente An Italian artist, emphasizes fragmentation and polarities...individual forms do not have to relate to each other, deliberately undermines conventional notions of pictorial balance 16
Francesco Clemente --Influenced by Joseph Beuys and Cy Twombly. Work is rich with ambiguity as the images are results... of wandering from one idea to another without giving more weight to one or the other... 17
Eric Fischel-- embraced the description of himself as a painter of the suburbs, not generally considered appropriate subject matter prior to his generation. Large scale paintings of people doing ordinary things with undertones of sexuality. 18
Themes of adolescent sexuality, voyeurism, and sexuality underlying seemingly ordinary everyday situations. 19
While painting returned in the 1980s despite the resistance to market forces of the 60s and 70s, it was graffiti art that carried the ideas of the previous decades into the next significant movement. The continued integration of art and life with the postmodern directive to EMBRACE EVERYTHING. Next week we talk about Graffiti. 20